The air was electric with race day jitters and ecstatic spectators as the minutes ticked down to the start of the 2013 edition of the Breck Epic. Competitors lined up for the three-day or six-day mountain bike stage race which begins every day at 9,600 feet and often tops out over 12,000 feet.
The Epic once again attracted top names such as defending champion Ben Sonntag (American Interbanc/Cannondale), ShoAir/Cannondale’s Alex Grant, repeat competitor Jake Wells and Specialized’s Todd Wells on the men’s side. The women’s field stacked up higher than ever with Stan’s NoTubes team members Amanda Carey, Sue Haywood, and Shannon Gibson, along with Pivot’s Karen Jarchow.
With two minutes to start, race promoter, Mike McCormack, once again read the rules of the Epic: Number one, don’t litter. Number two, don’t be a dick. Number three, there is no number three. And with those words, the gun was off.
After a quick road climb, the race began with the first enduro stage of the race. The enduro segments are new this year, with competitors tracking their times through Strava. The top enduro finisher each day will earn a leader’s jersey.
The opening stage swept down locally revered Aspen Tunnel. Breck local Nick Truitt pulled off the front with Sante Fe Brewing/Pivot’s Macky Franklin in hot pursuit. Once the enduro segment finished, Sonntag, Grant, and Wells made their way to the front, where they would stay the entire day.
Today would see many steep, rocky climbs, with smooth, flowing singletrack descents - a classic Breckenridge ride. Carey, no stranger to the Breck Epic, kept her cool throughout the stage, choosing to ride smooth and smart, knowing there were many days of racing ahead. Her strategy paid off with a solid second place ride, just 40 seconds behind stage winner and teammate Haywood.
The real race was in the pro men six-day race, with Grant and Wells staying together the entire race, and finishing just one second apart, with Sonntag two and a half minutes back.
The singlespeed category started off with Honey Stinger’s Dax Massey out front, finishing nearly nine minutes in front of Dan Durland in second.
Jake Wells finished 23 minutes ahead of second place in the three-day open men category, as well as finishing seventh overall.
Local trails planner and open space director, Scott Reid, used his local knowledge to propel himself to a win in the Clydesdale category.
In the other men’s six-day races, Raf De Bakker leads the men’s 30+ category, with Geir Ottar Kvernstuern in second, and Michael Danish in third, while Jonathan Davis leads the men’s 40+ with Curt Wilhelm, and Mike Naughton in hot pursuit. The men’s 50+ category saw Colorado native Charlie Hayes on the top spot, and Jeff Frost and Chris Grove rounding out the podium.
Tomorrow’s stage 2 brings the classic Colorado Trail descent, which tops most of the best to ride lists.
Full Results (Stage 1 and GC after stage 1)
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6 Day Open Men
1
Todd Wells
2:46:35
2
Alex Grant
0:00:02
3
Ben Sonntag
0:02:31
4
Macky Franklin
0:08:37
5
Cary Smith
0:15:47
6
Franc Vanderven
0:16:55
7
Nick Gould
0:21:27
8
Brent Gorman
0:22:58
9
Nick Truitt
0:23:12
10
Drew Free
0:25:42
11
James Meyer
0:29:56
12
Ty Hansen
0:30:01
13
Scott Leonard
0:31:03
14
Peter Butt
0:31:56
15
Charlie Rundell
0:33:22
16
Jason Hilimire
0:37:26
17
Jeff Ellis
0:37:32
18
Tim Berntson
0:44:30
19
Luke Sagur
0:49:39
20
Tim Lutz
0:50:34
21
Von Edwards
1:02:09
22
Ben Truitt
1:02:15
23
Takei Kyosuke
1:17:04
24
Jasen Thorpe
1:23:08
25
Joey Roa
1:30:17
26
Chris Castilian
1:31:56
27
Phillip Ball
1:36:10
28
Davis McNeil
1:38:44
29
Christopher Farney
1:41:47
30
Peter Weybright
1:44:12
31
Tim Kelton
2:04:14
32
Jeff Suffolk
3:41:30
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6 Day Singlespeed Men
1
Dax Massey
3:14:55
2
Dan Durland
0:08:41
3
Carlos Vulgamott
0:11:41
4
Jody Elovitz
0:17:14
5
Vince Anderson
0:18:06
6
Tim Brezsnyak
0:23:10
7
Kurt Gensheimer
0:28:54
8
Rich Dillen
0:32:49
9
Kenny Jones
0:36:24
10
Robin Dutton
0:38:24
11
David Benjes
0:39:40
12
Hans Hjelde
0:51:16
13
Christopher Latura
0:54:23
14
John Odle
0:57:25
15
Tim Ahern
1:27:03
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6 Day Men 30+
1
Raf De Bakker
3:14:55
2
Geir Ottar Kvernstuen
0:04:19
3
Jafar Tabaian
0:07:57
4
Brian Barrett
0:10:55
5
Dominik Hug
0:12:53
6
Nesse ØYstein
0:15:02
7
Felipe Borja
0:20:59
8
Garren Watkins
0:21:54
9
Jason Hilgers
0:22:11
10
Michael Danish
0:22:15
11
Jeremy Trask
0:28:17
12
Paul Carmichael
0:30:43
13
Daniel Miller
0:35:38
14
Cory Bolen
0:40:44
15
Michael Cosgrove
0:46:29
16
James Prentice
0:50:27
17
Mike Reardon
0:52:37
18
Benjamin Wiegand
1:00:28
19
Mark Freda
1:01:25
20
Aric Hartley
1:03:07
21
Glenn Harris
1:15:36
22
Brett Merrington
1:15:56
23
David Dansby
1:17:45
24
Robert Spies
1:22:22
25
Philip Thompson
1:34:32
26
Ross McKegney
1:46:34
27
Andrew Rizzi
2:06:54
28
Allan Kwok
3:36:11
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6 Day Men 40+
1
Jonathan Davis
3:15:09
2
Jeff Cospolich
0:04:21
3
Curt Wilhelm
0:06:48
4
Mike Naughton
0:09:55
5
Michael Piker
0:11:07
6
Jerry Long
0:14:25
7
Chad Davis
0:16:19
8
Rob Shaver
0:20:38
9
Ray Warner
0:21:38
10
Paul Rapinz
0:27:48
11
Marc Peruzzi
0:29:31
12
Shawn Lortie
0:29:40
13
Bob Saffell
0:29:51
14
Mike Driver
0:30:26
15
Brian Sells
0:32:13
16
Mike Riederer
0:32:44
17
Yuri Cook
0:33:31
18
Sean Hassinger
0:33:36
19
Trever Bushnell
0:34:06
20
Peter Knoop
0:34:42
21
Brad Newby
0:37:01
22
Lane Sanders
0:40:28
23
Dean Etienne
0:44:37
24
Johnny Petrosky
0:45:41
25
Jason Sumner
0:46:35
26
David Buchler
0:47:18
27
Carlyle Naylor
0:48:45
28
Chris McKillican
0:50:02
29
Michael Berg
0:51:08
30
Menno Jongsma
0:52:26
31
Rich Brown
0:53:26
32
Jason Potter
0:55:21
33
Matthew Sullivan
0:59:45
34
Nate McHugh
1:03:12
35
Lennie Moon
1:04:28
36
Samuel Turney
1:07:26
37
Joel Doctor
1:08:28
38
Marc Schwartz
1:10:49
39
Bill Brazier
1:16:12
40
Scott Liversedge
1:16:42
41
Brad Shield
1:19:44
42
Paul Dellorco
1:20:48
43
Leslie Handy
1:23:31
44
Mark Bartley
1:24:00
45
Gary Hall
1:24:25
46
Joel Roberts
1:27:58
47
Roger Ivey
1:30:11
48
Sergio Correa
1:34:49
49
David Meban
1:35:16
50
Patrick Morton
1:39:37
51
Nolan Farhy
1:44:20
52
Milan Skrecek
1:51:24
53
Jeff Dotterweich
1:53:38
54
Alex Tibwitta
2:08:56
55
Patrick Olson
2:09:11
56
Robert Reed
3:02:24
57
Richard Lane
3:08:28
58
Derek Chung
3:35:58
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6 Day Men 50+
1
Charlie Hayes
3:21:32
2
Jeffery Frost
0:07:02
3
Chris Grove
0:29:34
4
Kevin English
0:32:42
5
Ron Sanborn
0:47:47
6
Tetsuo Shimoda
0:48:54
7
Greg McKennis
0:56:12
8
Rob Piper
0:57:38
9
Matt Hanrahan
0:57:50
10
Greg Schultejann
0:59:55
11
Denis Hall
1:00:04
12
David Lammerse
1:02:06
13
Scott McCallum
1:07:28
14
Jim Pittacora
1:07:31
15
Mark Leeper
1:11:43
16
David Kelnberger
1:12:59
17
Dirk Long
1:16:48
18
Mark Halwa
1:27:40
19
Eric Lovins
1:27:44
20
Steve Cole
1:42:09
21
Ty Garber
2:10:45
22
Garry Mcculloch
2:18:06
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6 Day Clydesdale
1
Scott Reid
3:25:53
2
Steven Thompson
0:28:30
3
Greg Gerloff
0:36:10
4
Andrew Mclaren
0:54:41
5
Ron Hewitson
1:01:04
6
Peter Fobare
1:01:29
7
Nathaniel Morton
1:03:24
8
Eric Dejong
1:04:51
9
Alex McPherson
1:58:20
10
Moishe Lettvin
2:32:06
11
Todd Stevenson
3:02:14
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6 Day Open Women
1
Susan Haywood
3:35:10
2
Amanda Carey
0:00:41
3
Kate Aardal
0:01:58
4
Karen Jarchow
0:05:39
5
Alice Pirard
0:09:32
6
Kristin Aamodt
0:10:20
7
Lydia Tanner
0:36:05
8
Sarka Ruzickova
0:49:14
9
Katherine Knight
1:34:35
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6 Day Singlespeed Women
1
Andrea Wilson
4:10:55
2
Susan Sherman
0:57:11
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6 Day Women 30+
1
Paige Witherington
4:20:45
2
Katie Carmichael
0:33:34
3
Cathy Graham
0:48:24
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6 Day Women 40+
1
Shannon Gibson
3:54:15
2
Heather Gilbert
0:33:38
3
Kristin Riley-Lazo
0:37:22
4
Karen Holmes
0:39:34
5
Lauren Costantini
0:42:05
6
Tricia Davis
0:55:11
7
Gill Smith
1:21:50
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6 Day Women 50+
1
Christiane Bouchard
4:39:07
2
Stephanie Landy
0:19:39
3
Lori Halwa
0:25:19
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6 Day Duo Open Men
1
Yuki Ikeda & Jeff Kerkove
3:10:54
2
Kurtis Averill
0:10:24
3
Paul Fronhofer & Dan Fronhofer
0:31:16
4
Jose Marie Eyzaguirre & Joaq Rodriguez
1:50:17
5
Jeroen De Mey & Alex Onderwater
3:53:53
6
Stuart Walsworth & Jeff Wu
3:58:29
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6 Day Duo Men 80+
1
Todd Meier & Matt Woodruff
3:23:01
2
Kyle Boschen & Dean Cahow
0:34:56
3
Brian Deason & Rodne Hill
1:29:45
4
Jay Averill & Stefan Mundt
1:35:47
5
Tom Geentjens & Wim Dehaes
3:01:45
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6 Day Duo Men 100+
1
Eric Davis
3:48:40
2
Rob Herceg & Rick Metzger
0:47:06
3
Ben Engelberts & John Englebert
3:16:03
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6 Day Duo Women
1
Paula Burks & Shannon Greenhill
4:25:12
2
Laureen Coffelt & Timari Pruis
0:30:54
3
Star Affolter & Grace Ragland
1:14:11
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6 Day Duo Coed
1
Julie Kelly & Steven Kelly
4:08:49
2
Natalie Raborn & Sean Raborn
0:03:55
3
Heather Rizzi & Kurt Mason
0:32:29
4
Phil Kelly & Gina Virzi-Kelly
0:34:10
5
Michele Bliss & John Bliss
0:36:40
6
Randy Charrette & Jennifer Charretes
0:49:29
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6 Day Team Challenge
1
Craft Beer
4:22:55
2
Willas Wheels
0:03:09
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3 Day Open Men
1
Jake Wells
3:04:39
2
Peter Basler
0:23:14
3
Ben Welnak
0:24:22
4
David Ross
0:34:31
5
Tim Mt Pleasant
0:44:08
6
Joel Budacki
0:54:34
7
Jashua Lavietes
1:05:46
8
DJ Singh
1:31:34
9
John Pettit
1:39:13
10
Mike Rice
1:39:19
11
Carl Russell
1:57:57
12
Paul Lottridge
2:07:48
13
Matthew Buonanno
2:13:06
14
Robert Nolan
2:37:43
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3 Day Open Women
1
Duffy Danish
4:33:53
2
Debbie Preller
0:00:48
3
Annie Fox
0:31:37
4
Susan Lottridge
0:38:31
5
Margaret Montfort
0:40:25
6
Donna Miller
0:42:05
7
Minci Hoffmaster
0:47:05
8
Elizabeth Morse
1:48:14
9
Alison Jones
1:50:49
10
Fernanda Gomez
2:15:29
11
Margaret Kelnberger
2:22:54
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3 Day Men 40+
1
Henry Fischer
3:26:13
2
Gareth Jones
0:08:55
3
Andy Leifer
0:22:30
4
Bill Frielingsdorf
0:23:31
5
Tom Quinn
0:42:01
6
Kyle Firestone
0:44:11
7
Christian Long
0:53:02
8
Todd Kooy
1:05:59
9
Chip Waite
1:09:04
10
Don Dawson
1:15:43
11
Richard Flores
1:31:00
12
Jeffrey Sillik
1:31:40
13
Alex Mlawsky
1:37:38
14
Lonnie Kinkade
1:38:28
15
Kevin Lewis
1:41:31
16
Richard Fricke
1:41:37
17
Scott Sharp
1:53:00
18
Greg Hamilton
2:08:29
19
Thomas Gruver
2:25:26
20
Dave Walsh
2:26:24
21
Scott Bonvallet
2:26:47
22
Todd Haugen
2:27:27
23
Steve Fannon
2:37:29
24
Mark Seaburg
2:44:36
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3 Day Gran Fondo
1
Rick Henderson
4:54:27
2
Rafael Olvera
0:06:53
3
Robert Lee
0:40:14
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